Operating Mindfully

Brownmed’s manufacturing facility is nestled within the Iowa Great Lakes. In fact, it is less than five miles away from one of only three blue water lakes in the world, West Lake Okoboji.  This area is home to more than 500 animal species and we have nearly 20,000 Public Wildlife Acres.  Respect for and preservation of the environment is ingrained in our culture at Brownmed.

Our actions – the building and grounds:

• We’ve transitioned to geothermal energy.  This eliminated the need for all natural gas for heating.  In addition, all air conditioning is provided by geothermal.
• Lighting is provided by high efficiency fluorescent bulbs that we recycle through an approved Universal Waste Management Company
• We voluntarily requested a facility-wide  waste management and environmental compliance survey by the Iowa Waste Reduction Center (2005)
• The lawn sprinkler system is supplied with water from a water retention pond fed by runoff from our roof and parking lot drains

Our actions – manufacturing processes:

• Our plant runs on a 4/10 schedule, which reduces our employee’s commuting gas consumption by 20%
• All used oil is recycled through a used oil recycler
• All scrap vinyl and aluminum is recycled

Our actions – packaging and shipping:

• IMAK Compression, IMAK RSI and IMAK Ergo display boxes are made from
  75% recycled pulp
• IMAK Compression, IMAK RSI and IMAK Ergo inner and outer cartons are made from 100% recycled pulp
• Recycled paper is used for packing fill material
• Customers are invoiced electronically to reduce paper use

Our actions – recycling:

• All cardboard generated in the plant is recycled
• All batteries are recycled
• the ergoBeads found in many of our IMAK Compression, IMAK RSI and IMAK Ergo products are 100% recyclable